The 29-year-old Duchess has mastered demure dressing and might seem an unusual fashion crush for a singer who favours the more daring end of the style spectrum, be it the conical bras of her
Blonde Ambition
tour or the lurex leotards she wore in her
Confessions on a Dance Floor
days.

However, Madonna has a weakness for all things British after making her home here in 2000, when she married the director Guy Ritchie.

She developed "an obsession with the Royal family starting with Queen Victoria", and became a lady of the manor by purchasing a 1,000-acre country estate in Wiltshire where she learned to hunt, shoot and fish.

She also took to wearing tweed and embraced British life with gusto, once joking that she was a "connoisseur of ales" because she spent so much time in pubs. The couple divorced in 2008.

Her fascination with the royals led to her writing and directing
W.E.
, a biopic that casts the Duchess of Windsor in a sympathetic light.

Comparing the Duchess of Cambridge with the American divorcee whose relationship with King Edward VIII led to the 1936 abdication crisis, Madonna said: "The freedom that [Kate] has and the freedom the Royal family has now is nice and refreshing.

"It's too bad that Edward VIII didn't have the same kind of freedom back in 1937 [sic] to make his own decisions and to be the prince of the people, which Prince William is allowed to be. I like how modern they are now."

The singer was nicknamed 'Madge' by the British press and disliked the moniker until she was told it had Royal associations.

"I did hate it when they first started calling me that," she once admitted. "Then a friend told me that it was short for 'Your Majesty,' so I was, 'Okay, I like it'."

Speaking at the New York screening of
W.E.
, Madonna explained her attraction to the Duchess of Windsor's story.

"I was always intrigued by the idea of this twice divorced American woman from Baltimore, who was not considered a conventional beauty and who grew up poor, and the most powerful man in the world who gave up his throne.

"That's an astonishing sacrifice and I wanted to understand the nature of that sacrifice," she said.

She is also a fan of the Duchess of Windsor's fashion sense. "She developed a style and stuck with it whether people were interested or not. I admire her individuality."

The film, which stars Andrea Riseborough, is released in the UK in January. Reviews have been decidedly mixed but the recreations of the Duchess's exquisite Dior and Schiaperelli dresses are expected to garner an Oscar nomination for best costume design.

Arianne Phillips, the costume designer, is also Madonna's personal stylist.